A Good Samaritan
by jman907
Summary: What is the line between justice and vengeance? Nightwing had somone to teach him the answer, but the mysterious new vigilante in New York didn't, and if he keeps blurring that thin line, the city won't be big enough for the two of them!
1. A Business Transaction

Nightwing

A Good Samaritan

Chapter 1. A Business Transaction

"Show it to me Steve!" The man in the brown jacket said.

He probably should have kept his voice down, but he figured that if anyone else was this deep in Central Park at 2:30 AM, they probably couldn't care less if he fired an entire round of FMJs into Steve's skull right then and there.

He was wrong.

"C'mon Andy, you know I'm not showing you anything until after I've seen cash. You don't trust me all of a sudden?" Steve smiled.

Andy rolled his eyes as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a large stack of twenty-dollar bills bound in a rubber band, and motioned for Steve to take it.

The moronic grin left Steve's face.

"Aw, don't tell me that's all!" He said as a frown replaced his usual smile.

"This is all my pay for a month!" Andy yelled.

"What a coincidence," Steve shot back. "Mine too!"

"What else do you want?" Andy responded.

"What do you think I want?!" Steve said, his voice getting louder. "Do you think I just sit on my ass all day watching Grey's Anatomy until my fairy cking godmother pops up and bipity bopity cking boop the 'roids are there?! I Work for this it and I expect some cking cash!" Steve said as he raised his voice.

"Keep the stuff coming and there'll be more cash!"

"Haven't you guessed yet? There's no amount of this it that can get an untalented asshole like you into the major league!" Steve said without thinking.

This proved to be a bad move, as Andy pulled a Glock 18C out of his pocket and aimed for his dealer's throat!

Just as he put pressure on the trigger, there was a sound, like a small object sailing through the wind. This description proved accurate, as a small black cylindrical baton slammed into the barrel of his firearm, sending it flying from his hand!

He turned to try to spot the man who threw it, only to see a black-gloved fist shattering his nose!

Andy heard someone say "As your financial advisor, I would recommend you call off this deal!"

He fell on his back, and looked up to his attacker.

He wore a black jumpsuit over his entire body, made of what appeared to be Kevlar, but he wasn't positive if it was leather. There was a blue symbol on his chest that at first looked like a giant V, but arched down across his arms, forming an odd M. He had short, black hair, with a strange mask covering his eyes.

Andy had heard rumors of this guy, but hadn't believed them. It wasn't like he was living in Gotham, or Metropolis, or any of those heavy superhero traffic cities.

He had assumed that all of those news stories about the petty criminals being slaughtered a while back had been staged by the cops.

But the man himself was standing right there, with a baton identical to the one that had relieved Andy of his gun.

It was Nightwing!

There was a loud bang, and Nightwing dove for the grass! He landed in a roll, only to jump up and look in the direction the sound had come from.

Steve had picked up the gun!

He fired again, but Nightwing ducked and threw the baton into his gut!

As he clutched his stomach, the black garbed crime-fighter ran up to Steve and grabbed him by the hair, pulling his head down low enough for Nightwing to slam with his knee as hard as he could!

As Steve collapsed, something slammed into the back of Nightwing's head!

As the pain throbbed through his skull, he turned and glared at the man who snuck up on him, only to see Andy holding a large rock!

The rock was stained with blood!

Nightwing tried to punch him in the chest, but Andy hit him first!

This guy has obviously been buying steroids for a while now, Nightwing thought as the air was forced from his lungs. He was shockingly strong for a non-metahuman his age, and had caught Nightwing off guard! Andy grabbed the superhero by the shoulders and threw him headfirst into a tree!

Nightwing's head screamed with pain as he hit! As he landed, he felt an odd object under his back. He soon realized that it was the first baton he had thrown!

He looked up to see Andy, holding his gun again!

Good for him, Nightwing thought, just wish he'd aim it away from me!

He moved his leg only an inch, and suddenly cried out in pain! Even Andy knew that meant it was broken!

He looked down and asked "Any last words?"

Nightwing would normally make a joke about the incredibly cliché line, but now was not the time.

Smiling, he mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Andy asked, as moved a total of three inches closer to hear.

Close enough!

Nightwing kicked the gun out of his hand with leg he had pretended was broken, pulled the baton out from under him, and slammed it into Andy's groin! He punched the poor guy in the chin, fired a taser From his gauntlet into his chest, and slammed the back of his legs with the baton, sending the junkie down for the count!

Although Andy's eyes were clouded with blood sweat and tears, he heard someone speaking before he blacked out completely.

"I said, speak softly and carry a big stick!"


	2. An Old Acquaintance

Chapter 2. An Old Acquaintance

Lieutenant Juan M Broadway sighed as he entered his apartment.

He had just found a steroid user beaten up in central park next to one of his dealers, along with a tape of them arguing over the money, and a note signed:

_Your friendly neighborhood Nightwing!_

Why does it always need to be a joke to these guys, he wondered.

For the entire ride home, Juan felt uncomfortable, almost like he was being watched, but this was common. Ironic as it seemed, his apartment wasn't in the best part of town. Any cop living in that area always had at least twelve different pairs of eyes on them at all times.

So why did he feel so uneasy this time? Even now, in his own home, he felt it!

He took of his shirt and tossed it on the floor as he walked to his bed, but was stopped by a deep scratchy voice!

"It's been a long time, officer."

Juan spun around in an instant to see a tall man in some sort of black jumpsuit! Over this he wore a long black coat, which appeared to be full of heavy objects. It was dark, so juan couldn't make out the man's face, but he didn't recognize his voice.

The intruder picked up Juan's shirt and examined the badge.

"Got a promotion eh? I guess there are even less good cops in this city than I thought."

Juan suddenly realized that he had forgotten to take his gun off his waist! This worked out well for him, for he pulled it out and aimed for the home invader the moment he remembered it!

But as soon as he touched the handle, the tall dark stranger reached into one of the pockets of his coat, and pulled out a small knife!

A knife in a gunfight, Juan thought.

As suicidal as this seemed, at least this meant he could shoot the psycho!

But the moment he began to squeeze the trigger, the knife flew through the back of Juan's hand!

He screamed in pain as he dropped the gun, and looked up at his attacker!

"I'm not going to let you pull that one on me again."

The knife thrower said calmly as he walked closer to Juan. Juan could see the man's face now, and forgot all about the searing pain!

The man had a small black beard, a short ponytail, and a strange tattoo of a red rose on the left side of his neck!

"N-n-no… y-you're…" Juan couldn't speak!

The man picked up the gun.

"Is this the same one that you used last time?" he asked.

Juan just stared at the man standing above him! He put the gun in his coat, and pulled out another knife!

He looked at Juan and said "I'll see you on the other side, officer."

And with that, the man shoved the knife through Juan's throat, and walked away!

It was dificult to tell if he would simply bleed to death, or if the blades would slow the bleeding, and the one in his neck would cause him to suffocate! But in the final seconds of his life, Juan had a million thoughts going through his head!

How?

What?

Who?

But all of these thoughts stemmed from one major thought that made his brain want to explode, although that may also have been the fault of the blood draining from it!

But as his world went black, his mind did everything it could to clutch onto the impossibly cruel irony, of the fact that Juan had been murdered in cold blood, by a man that he himself had killed!


	3. An Online Search

Chapter 3. An Online Search

As the sun rose over the New York skyline, light shone straight into the apartment of Dick Grayson, waking him from his deep sleep. He wondered how it was possible that he had purposely bought a place so surrounded by other buildings, and the sun still got in his eyes every morning!

Granted, he hadn't had a good night's sleep since he was eight years old, but his insomnia had seemed worse lately for some reason.

He put it out of his mind, when the back of his head began to throb again. He carefully got out of bed and got an icepack, which he put on his couch as he lied down and turned on Good morning America.

He had somewhat hoped they would mention last night's entertainment, but they didn't. Instead, their top story was of a police officer that had been stabbed to death in his own home! Dick felt a slight pain of guilt when he heard that the police estimated that the lieutenant had been killed at 3:12 AM. Dick had collapsed in bed about twenty minuets earlier.

As he listened to the broadcast, Dick's attention was caught instantly when they mentioned:

"The two knives found in Broadway's body were identical to the ones found at the scene of the Sheller murder, earlier this week."

Dick turned the tv off as they changed stories to a miracle breakthrough at S.T.A.R. labs.

Had the Sheller killer come to New York?

Earlier that week, news had come of Franklin Sheller being found decapitated in his mansion in the Florida Keys! Several of his many security officers had been killed with small knives, as had the police officers that had been first on the scene. The traffic on the two bridges leading to his mansion had been blocked up for hours, which was particularly bad considering that in the Keys, the bridges themselves were miles long!

The only reason Dick had paid attention to it was because Sheller was a rumored mob boss, and dick had helped with the arrest of several of his men!

He was so busy thinking about the connection to this recent murder that he could no longer feel the pain in his skull. He walked over to his computer, turned it on, and Google searched the inscription he had seen on the knives on the news.

**6-17 CB.**

He had three hits:

_**C**arl's **B**uffet half price day_

On **June 17** adults and children eat at half price at all **C**arl's **B**uf…

Click to read more

_Herr Dustsches combat weaponry_

The **6-17** **C**ombat **B**lade is a lightweight combat knife designed to cau…

Click to read more

_Free __**C**__omic __**B**__ook day!_

**C**omic **b**ook stores nationally give away free **c**omics on **June 17** this yea…

Click to read more

Dick clicked on the second hit. It took him to a German weapon manufacturing company website.

The 6-17 Combat Blade is a lightweight combat knife designed to cause maximum damage with little effort. The teeth on the blade are designed to do additional damage while removing the blade from its victim. The lightweight material is amazingly durable, and is ideal for both throwing and hand-to-hand combat. Multiple 6-17's can be worn on one's person without limiting one's range of motion.

6-17 CB 34.99

6-17 CB Ten-pack 349.90

This sounded like what Dick was looking for, but he still didn't have any proof that the murders were linked. He was just about to return to google, when he saw somthing in the top right corner of the page that made him stop short.

_Sheller's stock now for sale!_

Are you kidding me, Dick thought as he clicked on it. He soon learned that Franklin Sheller had owned over 7,000,000.00 in Herr Deustsches's stock!

As he read it, he saw a link to another company in which Sheller had stock: S.T.A.R. labs. This seemed completely out of place. Why would a mafia lord want stock in a high tech industry like S.T.A.R.? He suddenly wished that he had watched the news a bit longer.

He clicked on the link to the S.T.A.R. homepage, and instantly saw what they must have been talking about on GMA!

S.T.A.R. labs New York had developed highly advanced heart transplants and an artificial blood-like liquid. They were still testing on cadavers donated by NYPD, and were unsure of the kind of brain damage it could cause, but they were attempting to raise victims of heart failure from the dead!


	4. Industrial Espionage

Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Industrial Espionage

The moment Dick saw the S.T.A.R. labs heart repair project, he knew that it was what Sheller was interested in!

Something like that would revolutionize modern medicine! It would save, and even bring back, infinite lives! And most importantly, it would make trillions of dollars in one day!

Dick new he had to take a closer look, and there were only two ways to do that. He could wait until dark and break in, but he would need to wait hours until sunset, and Nightwing was already wanted for breaking and entering, along with countless other crimes.

This left one other option. He looked at their contact information, took down a phone number, and quickly dialed it into his cell.

"S.T.A.R. labs New York, how may I help you?" Came a woman's voice.

Dick cleared his throat.

"Yes, hello. My name is Richard Wolfman."

"What can I do for you Mr. Wolfman?" The woman asked.

"I work for Wayne Biotech," Dick fibbed. "My employer heard about your heart transplant project, and would like to help fund it, but he wants me to get a look at the project first."

After a few seconds, the woman responded.

"I'll try to arrange for you to meet with Dr. Road. How soon can you be here?"

"It should only be about an hour." He informed her.

"I'll see you then, Mr. Wolfman." She said, just before hanging up.

Dick put his phone away and changed into the best suit he had. Along with other emergency disguises, Dick had gotten a Wayne Enterprises nametag with the name Richard Wolfman. He had even goon so far as to have Bruce start a fake employee account on the Wayne Enterprises website, although he doubted it took any effort on his old friend's part. He could even alter the account at any time to say what division and department worked in.

He combed his hair back, and walked down the stairs to catch a taxi. Soon after, he was on the front steps of the scientific wonderland that was S.T.A.R. labs!

Dick walked inside the large waiting room, where security guard waited for him. Luckily, Dick had left his costume and equipment at home, so the brief experience with the x-ray and metal detector went well.

He walked up to the front desk, where a man in a light gray uniform was waiting.

"Hello I'm…"

"You're the one from Wayne Enterprises." The man interrupted.

"I'll tell Dr. Road you're here. Now sit down, and be quiet."

He said to Dick as if he were a bad child. He decided to listen to him and sat for several minutes. Eventually, a surprisingly young looking man walked up to him.

"Mr. Wolfman?"

It took Dick a moment to realize that the man was talking to him.

"Uh… Hello. You must be Dr. Road. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Now I'm sure you want to see the technology first hand! Please follow me."

Dick did as he said.

As they walked through a door behind the front desk, the man in the gray uniform gave Dick a look. Dick had experienced a lot of danger, pain, and flat out fear, but something about this guy's stare scared the hell out of him!

Dr. Road finally noticed.

"Wow Dave, for someone who's been whining all day about being too busy, you sure seem to be doing a good job of sitting on your ass and trying to drive away anybody that wants to give us funds!"

This was enough to make Dave turn away and notice the line forming at his desk.

"Don't mind him." Said Road.

"He's just in a bad mood. As you can imagine, we've had people calling in all day asking us for us to see if their loved ones qualify for testing."

"With all due respect Dr., you must have had some idea that would happen if you went public with the project." Dick said in a respectful tone.

"I didn't want to let the word out until we had a working model, but…"

Road looked at Dick, as if trying to figure out if he could trust him. Considering that he thought his guest's name was Wolfman, then that might depend on one's definition of "Trustworthy".

After a few seconds, he finally spoke.

"…There was an incident, about a week ago, involving a missing cadaver."

That caught Dick off guard! Somebody had managed to break into a heavy security place like this, and get out carrying a corpse? Impossible! He had figured out that this place was a fortress the moment he saw it, and it seemed even more airtight from the inside!

"For copyrighting purposes, the marketing and legal departments wanted to go public before our technology could be reverse engineered." He said, sounding uncomfortable.

"Speaking of your technology, I was sent here to see it. Would you mind showing me a sample?" Dick said to change the subject.

Road smiled and pointed at a large metal door, and the two of them walked to it. After Road went through a retinal scan, the doors opened, and the two of them entered the room. Dick had no idea what he was expecting, but this wasn't it!

He was in a morgue!

"The body's need to be very well preserved, otherwise the heart implants would be useless." Road said as he picked up a small plastic object.

"It's similar to a pacemaker, but can be inserted post mortem. We have plans to replace the veins with small tubes and supply the body with artificial blood, for those who's bodies are in worse shape, but we want to make sure that the heart implant works first." He explained. "Our biggest concern however, is the brain."

Dick turned and glared at him.

"Don't tell me you have an artificial brain!" he said.

Road chuckled for a moment, and shook his head.

"No, but we are worried about the effects of brain damage, should we get a cadaver to breath."

"Speaking of cadavers," Dick said. "Where do you get them all?"

"The police have been very helpful, and have given us as many subjects as they could." He said with a smile. "Now I have a question for you! Do you think your employer will be interested in what we have here?"

Dick had completely forgotten about Wayne Biotech! No matter what he said at this point, Bruce was going to hear about it.

He decided it would be better to take his money than his credibility.

"I'll make sure you get paid by the end of the week!"


	5. Final Patient

Chapter 5

Chapter 5.Final Patient

Dana walked to the front door to put the closed sign on it. It had been a month since she had converted this large apartment into a private medical clinic, and had been her dream since medical school. She wished her fiancé Terrance had been happier, but that was a bit too much to ask.

As she entered the room, she was surprised to se she still had a patient. The two other doctors and the secretary had left, so nobody had told her there was someone waiting to see her. He wore a long black coat, over what looked like a tight black suit.

"I'm so sorry sir, we're closing for the night. Did you have an appointment?" She asked kindly.

She couldn't tell if that made him laugh or cough, especially because he was looking away from her. When he was done, he spoke in a scratchy voice

"No, I just came to congratulate you on opening this place. You really traded up in everything…" He said in an odd groan.

He stood up and turned too her, and she screamed!

She wasn't really the screaming type, but the sight of this man made her blood run cold! Or to be more specific, the sight of the rose tattoo on his neck made her blood run cold!

"...Except for men." He said, smiling.

"N-no! This isn't real! You're not r…"

He slapped her on the mouth!

"Real enough for you?"

He was strong!

"You're used to it aren't you? Being hit?"

"Please, it wasn't my fault!" She screamed.

"Perhaps not, but I am curious, why didn't you tell the police the truth about me?" He asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Please, you don't know what Terrance was going to do to me!"

She could tell that he was laughing this time!

He then reached into his pocket. She was worried that he might have a gun, but instead, it was a small object that fit inside his fist.

"Couldn't be as bad as what I did to him."

He threw the object at Dana's feet. She jumped back in fear, but after a few seconds it didn't explode. She approached it out of curiosity, and saw that it was a small ring. She picked it up to see that it had some blood on it, and was more of a piercing than a ring. Kind of like the one Terr…

She suddenly felt like throwing up! This piercing belonged to Terrance! Not many people knew that he had it, because not many people had seen the particular place where he had been pierced!

The man smiled again.

"One quick tug on his worthless corpse, and it came right out!"

She stared at him in absolute horror!

"We should talk more often."

She ran!

She ran through the door behind him and down the stairs! She was confused that he hadn't tried to stop her, but wasn't complaining!

She climbed in her old car and started it, only to see here glass break! She looked up to see that the man had jumped through the two-story window! The next part was even more shocking, as he landed on his feet!

She could have done a lot of things, but Dana did something incredibly stupid. She tried to run him over!

But as she headed for him, he did something stupid too. He ran right at her!

She reached 60 MPH before hitting him, but it didn't work out how she planned. The moment before the car hit him, he jumped over it!

He Stuck a knife through the roof of the car, and clung to it as hard as he could! Dana drove as wildly as she could, trying to shake him off, but nothing worked!

She was so focused on this that she didn't notice that she was headed straight for a street lamp!

She slammed into it full speed, and flew through the windshield! Her spine snapped as she flew into the same pole that halted her vehicle!

The man flew off too, but landed in a roll, and was unharmed!

He was about to make sure Dana was dead, when he saw something overhead!

Headed right for him, was Nightwing!


	6. Confrontation

Chapter 6

Chapter 6. Confrontation

It was getting dark by the time that Dick left S.T.A.R. labs, so he decided to go straight home, suit up, and start his patrol. Road had seemed nice, but had given Dick information a bit too easily. It might have been because there was money involved, or just because Dick had an honest face, but this guy was a little too trusting.

Soon after, Dick Grayson entered his apartment.

Nightwing was the only one to exit it.

The night seemed calm at first, but then he saw a drunk driver. And this was a very, very drunk driver!

Nightwing swung down on a grapple line to take a closer look, and saw somebody was riding on top of the car!

Damn teenagers! He had never done any of those crazy stunts when he was that age. This was probably because he was too busy jumping off buildings and getting in fistfights, but at least he did it sober!

Nightwing decided to break it up, but couldn't get to the car in time, because it hit a street lamp seconds later! The driver was thrown through the windshield and into the same lamp, letting out a painful scream!

The man ridding on top also flew down the street, but landed in a roll, and looked miraculously unharmed!

Nightwing swung past him to look at the driver. He was surprised to see that it wasn't some sixteen year-old guy on crack, but a woman in her early thirties. She had a doctor's coat on, that said her name was Dana Perez. Hitting the pole had snapped her spine, and knocked her out, but she was still breathing!

The man that had been thrown of the roof of the car walked up to Nightwing. He had a long black coat, which appeared to have something stiff in it, over a weird black jumpsuit. He had a beard and ponytail, along with a tattoo of a red rose.

"You're friend's still breathing!" The black and blue hero told him.

The man reached into one of the pockets in his long black coat.

"I'll take care of." He said calmly.

Nightwing thought that he might have a cell phone in his pocket, but the man took out something completely different. He pulled out a knife and expertly slit her throat!

Nightwing jumped back in surprise! What had just happened?! He looked at the knife. Under the blood, it said **6-17 CB**!

"Nice to finally meet my ally." The man said with a smile.

"Hold on, you're not the kind of guy that I want on my side!" Nightwing said confused.

"Really? We're both cleaning this street, you just go through the cycle of waiting for the criminals to get out of prison, so you can go get them back in all over again. I'm too lazy for that, so I choose end the cycle at the start."

Nightwing knew from experience that when somebody rationalized murder that logically, it was always a bad sign.

"Nice to know that the criminals in New York are offing each other for me." Nightwing said with a sarcastic look.

"I'm no criminal." Came a quick response.

"Then you won't mind a quick trip to NYPD?" Said Nightwing.

"Would you?"

He had him there.

The cops would probably be so busy getting the news out that they'd caught Nightwing that this killer would be able to walk away.

"I know what you're thinking. The police are corrupt. They make judgments about innocents and kill them without thinking twice!" He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You're really one to judge." Nightwing said as he pointed at the body.

"You have no idea what crimes she's committed!" The man in the coat responded.

"Why don't you tell your lawyer all about it!" Nghtwing said as he moved closer to the killer.

"I don't want to hurt you."

He turned and began to walk to the stairs to the subway. Nightwing walked behind him

"Coming peacefully? First time for ev…"

As he put his hand on the man's shoulder, the man grabbed Nightwing's wrist, and flung him over his head! Right down the subway stairs!

"…Unless you make me." The man said.

Nightwing's head was throbbing again by the time he reached the lower steps.

He couldn't believe he had done something so incredibly stupid! Even Catman would have seen that coming! Catman!

He heard the man coming down the stairs, and decided to play dead. The moment the killer was in range, Nightwing tried to kick him in the gut, but he caught his foot and performed a hammer fist strike on Nightwing's shin!

While the killer was preoccupied with his new victim's leg, Nightwing moved his other foot behind his enemy's ankle and tripped him! For once, he was caught off guard and fell straight down!

He managed to land in a safe backward fall position, but forgot to let go of his Nightwing's foot, giand his fall gave the man who tripped him the momentum to jump onto his feet! He was about to land on the killer's face, when the man stuck his crossed arms in front of him, and Nightwing ended up standing on them! He uncrossed his arms, sending Nightwing down!

As he toppled, he pulled a baton from the pocket on his back and slammed it into the killer's face!

He could tell this guy had the know how, but hadn't faced anybody with the experience to fight back before. He was worried by the idea of picking on someone his own size, and that gave Nightwing an advantage!

The killer leaned up so fast that it knocked Nightwing off of him. He then reached into his coat and pulled out a baton of his own! This one was nearly twice as long, and had a weird hole on one end.

He swung it at Nightwing, who blocked it with one baton as he reached for the other!

Another swing came from the other direction, but this strike was also parried!

He made a stabbing motion with the end that had the hole in it, but Nightwing crossed his own batons and caught it an inch away from his face! He Looked inside the small hole, and saw a faint glint of metal…

He released it and jumped back just as the killer pushed a hidden button, and a blade extended from the hole, turning the baton into a spear!

He made a slashing motion at Nightwing, who jumped out of the way! This turned out to be a trap, as Nightwing's face was slammed with a roundhouse kick a moment after!

While He was dazed, and feeling like his head needed to be amputated, Nightwing was unable to stop the killer from running back up the stairs, and right in front of an oncoming pickup truck that screeched to a halt, just before it could give the man a taste of his own medicine!

The driver got out to check the car that had crashed a few minutes earlier.

"Holy it! Are you alright man?"

The killer was completely unfazed by almost getting hit by a car.

"Sir, I need to borrow your car."

"Do you need a ride to the hospital? Or you insura… Oh my god is she dead!?"

The killer held his spear in front of the terrified mans face!

"Do you want to obstruct justice, or do you want to let me borrow your car?"

The man just stared back. After a few seconds, the killer moved the spear slightly closer to the poor guy's face!

"Keys 'r in the ignition! Please go!"

The killer pulled back his weapon and patted the man on the head.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you never have to go through something like this again."

He climbed into the truck and turned it on just as Nightwing wobbled up the stairs. His splitting headache was only made worse by the fact that he was being screamed at by some suburban hick!

"Nightwing! Thank god! That guy stole my truck!" He screamed into his savior's sore skull.

"Guy? What gu…"

He stopped as he heard the sound of car tires screeching to life!

He had heard this many times from fleeing criminals, whether the offender had been in a hit-and-run, or just fleeing the scene of the crime. But this time it felt like getting shot through the brain with a nail gun!

He glanced up as the truck sped away.

Through the back window, he saw that the driver had a black ponytail, and a tattoo of a red rose!

Nightwing ran after it as fast as he could, refusing to let this man get away with killing that Perez woman!

Luckily the truck wasn't the mach 5, and Nightwing managed to jump into the back of it before it gained too much speed!

Cliche as it seemed, Nightwing let out a big sigh of relief.

His relief passed quickly, when he noticed that the truck was headed into the tunnel to Jersey!

He was clinging to the back of a speeding car, being driven by serial killer with a messiah complex, and a reason to be angry with his unwanted passenger!

Soon, he would be doing it on the highway!


	7. I'm on the Highway to Hell

Chapter 7

Chapter 7. I'm on the Highway to Hell

As soon as Nightwing figured out where the truck was going, he tried to break through the rear window and force the driver to stop! But unfortunately, they entered the tunnel before he could hit it hard enough, and the sounds of traffic echoing off the walls nearly doubled the pain in his head!

He wriggled in the back of the truck for over a minute and a half, barely able to move! He couldn't help but wonder if this was how Superman felt when he was around kryptonite. Maybe if someone dropped a planet on his head, and then broke out the special K!

He was relieved when they first left the tunnel, due to the fact that the pain was subdued enough for him to regain control of his limbs, but as his brain slowly clawed back for control, he remembered that this was a bad thing! By the time that he was fully aware of his surroundings, they had exited the ramp and were headed south at 60 MPH!

Nightwing grabbed a baton and destroyed the thick pane of glass separating him from the homicidal driver! But before he could hit the driver himself, the killer picked up his spear from the passenger seat and stabbed right at his stowaway! Nightwing dodged the weapon in surprise! Not only would this guy have hit him if he hadn't moved, but he hadn't even glanced in the rearview mirror! He had even done it with one hand on the steering wheel, and kept the truck going straight!

He grabbed onto the spear so the killer couldn't slash at him, and swung a baton at the back of the driver's head! The killer ducked however, and all that he hit was the driver's window. Worse, the killer raised his head again, and slammed it into Nightwing's! It was getting old, but the skull shattering pain returned! This time, Nightwing tumbled back and fell off the truck!

Just before falling, he had enough sense to fire a grappling line from gauntlet on his right wrist into the truck's bumper! He didn't want to be dragged along by the ford, so he had to try to run behind it as fast as he possibly could! He waited for the lane to his left to be empty, and then ran at an angle to enter it. He then fired a grappling line from his left gauntlet into the hood of the truck, and reeled it in!

Once he was close enough, he jumped onto the hood and smashed the windshield open with a baton! This only made the driver double his speed, sending the still slightly Nightwing tumbling through the windshield and into the passenger seat! The killer then pushed a button on his door that locked the passenger door, and made a ninety degree turn that sent the truck flipping!

Just as it began to roll over, the killer opened his door and jumped out of the truck and onto the pavement! Nightwing was thrown around inside the vehicle like a rag doll, hitting his head several more times! At this point, he had grown accustomed to the pain that was shredding his brain.

For somebody that isn't a criminal, this guy sure seems to be an expert at vehicular manslaughter, he thought.

By the time the truck had flipped at least four times, it came to a full stop, and Nightwing felt like he had been inside a blender! He hadn't felt this bad since that whole thing with that Luthor from another Earth! He crawled out of a hole that he assumed was a once a window, and got a good look at the twisted piece of metal he had just crawled from.

The truck was overturned, and looked like it had been crushed on all four sides. Bits and pieces were scattered all over the road, and spikes of metal were sticking out of the walls.

He was so preoccupied with the pile of scrap metal that he didn't notice somebody walking up behind him, until he felt a strong kick to the back of his leg! As he fell backwards, he felt a strong hand grasp his hair, and slam him into the ground faster! While the hand was still on his head, he felt something cold touch his neck. As the pain left his skull, he saw that it was a piece of metal. Written on it, was **6-17 CB**.

"The fun's over. Go home, bandage yourself up, and stay out of my way from now on." The killer said in his usual calm tone.

He slowly pulled the knife from Nightwing's throat, and got up to walk away. He went to the lane that traffic was merging with in order to go around the overturned truck, and stuck out his thumb like a regular hitchhiker!

Nightwing leaned forward, and considered his next move. He obviously couldn't beat this guy in a fight, especially after what he'd just been through. On the other hand, he was sure to kill again if he got away. He tried to stand up, only to realize how tired he really was.

He slowly walked up behind the killer, hoping to catch him by surprise, but it was hopeless. The killer turned to grab Nightwing in a bear hug, and pulled him into the traffic lane! Nightwing as so dazed that he couldn't resist! That all changed though, when he turned to see an eighteen-wheeler headed right for him!

The driver tried to brake, but he was going too fast, and skidded out of control! It turned into the lane with the wrecked pickup truck, but its trailer was still taking up the lane that Nightwing and the killer were standing in, and was skidding right toward them!

Nightwing stomped on the killer's foot, broke out of the grab, and ran several feet away from him! He then ran at the killer as if to attack him, only to slide on his back into him!

His hope was to trip him, so that they would both slip under the trailer. However, the killer moved a few feet to his left, and Nightwing slid right past him!

While Nightwing slid out the other side, the killer turned to face the trailer, and took five steps back. He stared silently as it slowly screeched to a halt, just an inch away from his face!

Nightwing stood up on the other side, and painfully ran around the vehicle to see… A kick headed straight for his face!

It was this point when Nightwing left his body, controlling his actions completely on instincts, powered by absolutely nothing but pure adrenalin!

He ducked out of the way of the kick, and performed a karate chop to the back of the killer's leg, sending him toppling over! He landed with his arms stretched back, softening the fall, as Nightwing got ready to smash his face in with a baton! The killer rolled out of the way of the oncoming attack and attempted to kick his foe in the ribs, only for Nightwing to grab his foot, and stretch the leg out in a pin position! The killer waited with his leg outstretched, until Nightwing briefly let his guard down, then he pulled in his leg, sending his opponent falling toward him, and performed a second kick to his ribs, hitting them exactly where he wanted this time!

Nightwing jumped back a few feet, and watched the killer get up. They were about to resume their conflict, when they heard sirens! They turned to see a squad of police cars heading straight for them! At first, Nightwing wondered why the cops were driving on the wrong side of the highway, only to realize that the pickup truck and Eighteen-wheeler had completely stopped traffic on their side.

The killer also thought about something, until it clearly came to him. Nightwing knew it must have come to him, because the killer soon broke out in a smile! His smile was almost as creepy as when he had killed that woman, Nightwing thought. The killer suddenly ran up to him, as if to attack!

Nightwing stopped him with a punch in the nose, which sent the killer to his knees!

Nightwing immediately knew that something was wrong. He hadn't punched the guy hard enough to send someone like him down! He had even held back, knowing that the killer would almost certainly see it coming and block him!

The police soon stopped right next to the two of them and jumped out of their squad cars, when the killer spat out some blood, and screamed something that Nightwing never would have expected!

"Officers! Help! This man is trying to kill me!"

Before Nightwing even processed the words, the police were all aiming their guns at him, and shouting things like, "Freeze night-freak!" or, "Hands in the air, superhero!" Nightwing knew his best option was to do what they said.

As the police grabbed him, he glanced at the other side of the highway. Another eighteen-wheeler was coming in their direction in the distance.

Just as on of the officers was about to handcuff him, Nightwing gave the cop a solid kick between the legs! He then pulled free from the other cop holding him, and ran for the other side of the highway! He heard the police shooting at him, and even felt a bullet hit the back of his Kevlar suit, but he just kept running!

When he finally neared it, he fired a grapple line into the eighteen-wheeler and reeled himself in! Luckily, the driver was so incredibly absent-minded that he didn't even notice the police shooting at him, let alone the man climbing on his truck! Nightwing wanted to keep it that way, so he climbed onto the roof of the trailer.

He glanced back at the police, to see that the killer was gone, escaped during the excitement. Nightwing clung to the trailer for several minutes, until the truck neared the tunnel back to New York. He knew that even if he survived another tunnel experience, the police would probably be waiting on the other side.

So, he decided to do it the hard way, and jumped in the harbor!

After swimming for about half an hour, he came to shore. He just barely had the energy to climb out of the water and swing back to his apartment.

He walked to his bathroom, took a pain pill, and went to bed.

He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.


	8. Aided by Family

Chapter 8

Chapter 8. Aided by Family

By the time Dick finally awoke, his head had begun to heal. He checked the time, 9:14 PM. He had almost literally slept a full day! He didn't even know if it had been two days!

He walked to his kitchen and cooked a frozen pizza. After finishing the entire thing, his thoughts turned to the killer.

Now that there was a new victim, He had to find something else to link all three of them together. He seated himself at his computer once again, and this time Googled: Dana Perez Juan Broadway Franklin Sheller.

No hits.

He searched just Dana Perez and Franklin Sheller.

No hits.

Just Juan Broadway and Franklin Sheller.

No hits.

Dana Perez and Juan Broadway.

This time, there actually was a hit!

_ABC _

Mugger killed in police shootout

Click to read more

This didn't look connected in any way, but seemed interesting enough to click on.

He was surprised too see that the news story actually was about Perez and Broadway. As it turned out, Perez and her boyfriend Terrance Philland had been mugged by somebody named Jim Bladeson. The mugger had was shot by the first police officer on the scene, Juan Broadway, who was promoted to lieutenant a few days later. There were rumors that Bladeson was hadn't given Broadway any real reason to fire, and that the police had covered something up.

Dick wanted to read more, but the story wasn't very well covered, considering the generic nature of the crime. The fact was, Dick simply didn't have the resources to follow his only lead.

He had serious doubts that he could walk into NYPD HQ claiming to be an investor from Wayne enterprises, and they would just show him the police records. Which is why he turned off his computer, got into his suit, grabbed his phone, and did something that he really didn't want to.

He called for help.

"Wayne residence, Alfred Pennyworth speaking."

"Hi Alfred, its Dick. Is Bruce there?" he asked.

"I'm afraid that masters Bruce and Tim are on patrol. Shall I wire you through to the batmobile?"

"If it's not to much trouble." Dick said, knowing that this would only hurt his ego more if he continued.

There was some brief static, and then a deeper voice came through to him.

"Dick. I was wondering when you would call. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with S.T.A.R. labs asking me about when I'm making my first payment, would it?"

Dick had hoped he could put of this conversation until after S.T.A.R.'s implants made billions.

"It's nice to talk to you too. Listen, I need to borrow the batcomputer. Can you get the league satellite to teleport me to the cave?" he asked.

"Activate the beacon on your suit, I'll tell J'onn to send you." Bruce informed him.

"You're a real pal."

"We'll talk later." He said with no emotion as he hung up.

A few minutes later, Dick was at the base of one of the worlds most advanced supercomputers, in one of the surprisingly few caves in the world to have both a robot dinosaur and a giant penny.

He first returned to the story about Perez being mugged. He checked the police records on her that the computer was able to "borrow" . The only two incidents on her record were the mugging, and the car crash that ended her life.

Dick decided that Perez's boyfriend Terrance was likely going to be the next victim, and check his records next. He was surprised to learn that Terrance Philland was already found dead yesterday! TOD was roughly an hour before that of his fiancé.

As he read this, Dick heard the familiar sound of the batmobile's engine echoing off the cave walls, and that of it screeching to a halt. He also heard the sound of footsteps. Soon, the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin were standing right behind him.

Tim was the first to speak.

"What happened to your head?"

Dick had forgotten that his head was covered in bandages.

"I lost count. How are you?"

Bruce cut Tim off

"What are you looking for?"

"I've been following a series of murders that appear to be connected to the death of Franklin Sheller." Dick said.

"What do you know about the killer?" Bruce asked.

As he said this, Dick pulled up the records on the dead mugger Jim Bladeson. In his picture, Bladeson was a tall man, with a black ponytail and short black beard. On his neck, was a tattoo of a rose.

"We're looking at him."


	9. The Search Ends

Chapter 10. The Search Ends

Dick felt ready to give up. He had been searching through the batcomputer files for hours. He assumed it was daytime, although it was hard to tell. Bruce had only stayed for about half an hour before going upstairs, claiming to need some sleep. This didn't sound at all like him to Dick, but then he thought that Bruce probably wanted him to solve this on his own.

Tim had stayed to watch, but he probably regretted it. At first, it looked like Dick was on a roll. The mugger looked just like the man that had killed Dana Perez, and according to the batcomputer's police files, his body had been donated to S.T.A.R. labs, and was the cadaver that they reported missing!

Unfortunately, that was where the leads ended. He had searched everything on Jim Bladeson, but it looked like nothing interesting had ever happened to him before he was shot. It was strange that Bladeson had such a clean record. He lived in a good part of town, he had a well paying job, and it didn't look like he'd ever met Perez or Philland in his life. Unless he had suddenly snapped, Bladeson seemed to have absolutely no motive for mugging them. Dick also searched Perez, Philland, and Broadway, but nothing came up.

He felt tired and rested his head in his hand, but that of course brought back the searing pain. Dick felt like he was going insane when Tim finally spoke up.

"Before you break something, try searching this Sheller guy."

Tim had been watching so patiently that Dick had forgotten he was there.

He decided to take a deep breath, and type in the last search. The first hit was a very recently added news story at CBS .

**A daring identity theft**

**Recently, wealthy entrepreneur Franklin Sheller was found dead in his mansion in the Florida Keys. His head had been cleanly severed by a 6-17 Combat Blade, which was found nearby the body. The police confirmed that the time of death was roughly 9:00 PM. However, at exactly 9:43 PM that same night, two billion dollars were withdrawn from Sheller's personal checking account. Cameras inside the ATM from which the money was withdrawn show a tall, dark haired man, with a short beard, ponytail, and a tattoo of a rose on his neck. There are rumors of a link between this, and a series of murders in New York, but there is no proof of these claims at this time…**

Dick didn't have time to read the rest of the story before the batcomputer screen began to flash red!

Dick had set the supercomputer to monitor police radios in not only Gotham, but New York as well, in case anything big happened while he was away. Now the computer had picked up the message:

"All units, all units, we have a break in at NYPD HQ! A sikorsky-76 has been hijacked, suspect is a tall Caucasian male, with a tattoo of a rose on his neck, repeat, we have had a break in…"

Dick didn't need to hear it again.

He quickly switched the batcomputer to show all aircraft currently above New York. Sure enough, a moderately sized helicopter was heading west from NYPD HQ at top speed.

"Where's he going?" Tim asked.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to let him get there." Dick said

He got up and ran across the cave, right up to the batwing. He quickly strapped on a parachute, climbed into the cockpit, and fired up the engine.

"You aren't leaving without me, are you?" Tim asked.

"I need you to stay behind. You can help me out from here in case of an emergency." Dick said.

Tim was unconvinced.

"…And, cover for me when Bruce finds out I stole his jet, which should be thirty seconds ago. See you soon"

With that, Dick closed the cockpit of the batwing, and took off!

The combined force of the loud noise, and the fact that he was flying at Mach 2, brought a whole new pain to his head! He put it out of his mind, and sped up!

After about an hour of flying at top speed, he saw what he was looking for. Up ahead, there was a sikorsky-76 with police markings on the sides. And he was about to crash right into it!

Nightwing made a sharp turn. Just barely speeding past the chopper! He cut his speed in half, and turned back for Bladeson's helicopter.

He then radioed back to the cave.

"Tim, it's me. Listen. I need for you to help me out here."

"Why do you never ask before taking the jet?" Came Bruce's voice.

"Add that to the list of things to talk about later, right now I need your help." Nightwing said.

As this was happening, he flew directly in front of the chopper, and slowed to match its speed.

"Alright Bruce, on the count of three, I need you to take over the controls from the batcomputer."

"Why? what are you... Oh my God, are you insane!?" Bruce shouted back.

"Don't worry, I have parachute in case something goes wrong." Nightwing said calmly.

"What if you hit the rotors!?" Bruce yelled.

"Then I hope you weren't looking forward to an open casket." Nightwing replied.

He instantly knew that this was a bad move. Bruce had never been good with death.

"Dick, don't do this!" Bruce said with actual concern.

Nightwing knew that there was only one way to win this fight.

"One,"

"Dick!"

"...Two,"

"Please!"

"...Three!"

As soon as he said three, Nightwing heard a sweet computerized voice say:

"All control, is now turned over to Batcave."

This was good, because Nightwing pushed the one button that couldn't be controled by bruce.

The emergency eject button!


	10. Begining of the End

Chapter 11. Begining of the End

Instantly, Nightwing braced himself as he was forcefully launched upward from the cockpit! His skull was on the verge of exploding once again, but the pain couldn't break his airtight focus! He looked down to see that he was directly above the helicopter's rotors! He expertly swung his body to dodge them, only to then fire a grapple line into the side of the chopper!

By the time he reeled in the line, he was so close to the rotors that it was getting difficult to feel anything but his head. He managed to pull a baton from the pouch on his back though, and smashed through the nearest side window!

However, when he tried to climb in through the window, Bladeson was waiting for him! The chopper must be on autopilot, Nightwing thought. While Nightwing's legs were still sticking out the window, Bladeson pulled out his spear like weapon and tried to stab his enemy! Nightwing deflected the shot with his baton though, which caused Bladeson to accidentally shove his weapon through the wall of the chopper, only inches above the hero's head, where it became stuck.

Nightwing then attempted to throw his baton into Bladeson's face, but the killer stuck out his arm and deflected it. Nightwing didn't care though, because it had done its purpose and distracted Bladeson, giving the hero time to grab the spear above him, and pull himself all the way into the chopper. It was a little bit more quiet in here, meaning that his head felt better, even if it was just by a little bit.

He didn't have long to enjoy it though, because he was forced to dodge Bladeson's fist only a moment after entering! He sidestepped the punch with relative ease, but this only served to set him up for the upcoming kick to his face! Nightwing saw it coming though, and grabbed Bladeson's foot at the last second, only to perform a kick of his own to the knee of Bladeson's other leg, sending the killer falling face first!

Unfortunately, Nightwing made the mistake of letting go of Bladeson's foot. As the killer fell, he put his hands out in front of him, as if to stand on them, only to swing the foot that Nightwing had just held, and prop it up on the nearby wall of the chopper, allowing him to balance in an unusual position! He then tilted his body sideways, and used his other leg to kick at Nightwing, but the hero stuck out his shin to block it, and swung at the killer with his second baton!

But Bladeson dropped to the floor to dodge the attack and rolled away from Nightwing, right up to the wall that still had his weapon lodged inside of it, where he jumped to his feet! he reached to pull the spear out of the wall, but Nightwing didn't let him!

He ran at the killer, about to strike with the baton once again, when he realized his mistake. Reaching for the spear was an incredibly obvious move, that left Bladeson completely open for an attack. Anybody with as much combat skill as him would have the sense to know that they'd be dead in the water!

That is, unless of course it was a bluff to lure an opponent closer, for a counter attack.

It was.

The exact moment that the thought occurred to Nightwing, Bladeson kicked him in the wrist, sending the baton flying out of the hero's hand! Bladeson then grabbed Nightwing around the throat, placed his right leg behind his enemy's left, and shoved him to the ground!

In the two seconds in which he was falling, Nightwing could only think of one way to get out of this situation. He kicked Bladeson in the groin! Hard couldn't describe the power that he felt he was putting behind that kick. For less then half of a second, all of his remaining strength was put into his leg! That may not have been much at the time, but it was enough to shake Bladeson off of him!

However, Nightwing was unable to enjoy that small victory though, because it happened at the exact same moment his head slammed into the ground! He had already been in pain, but this pushed it over the edge!

He tried to stand up, but that was extremely difficult. Not only was his vision blurry, but The floor of the helicopter was shaking. That coupled with the fact that he couldn't see any of the horizon, was so disorienting that he physically vomited!

After he finally managed to stand, Nightwing spotted Bladeson's silhouette. The tall shadow walked up to him, paused for a moment, and then Spoke.

"I've done everything from throwing you off the back of a truck onto the highway, to asking you politely to leave me alone. I don't want to kill you, but your narrowing my options."

Nightwing wanted to make a witty comeback, but his brain was having trouble registering the words. He Ignored Bladeson, and moved to the broken window that he had climbed through. Outside of it, he saw what he considered his only chance of survival.

only half a dozen yards away from the helicopter, was the Batwing! Nightwing limped to the window as fast as he could, praying that he could fire a grapple line into the bat-shaped jet in time.

Unfortunately, Bladeson walked in front of him, blocking his path. He knew that the killer was about to hit him, but it was impossible for Nightwing to effectively deflect the shot. He was far to distracted by the strange new form of vision he was suddenly experiencing. His already blurred vision had turned to something that was like double vision, only one of the two Bladeson's in front of him would disappear every few seconds.

He was slightly relieved when Bladeson only gave him a gentle shove to the floor.

He then glanced out the window, mumbled what Nightwing assumed was a swear, and then ran to the cockpit. When he came back, he held a portable surface to air missile, which he shoved the end of out of the window, and fired!

It was at the moment that the missile fired, that the noise finally caused Nightwing to black out.

He didn't see the jet explode. He didn't feel the guilt of having destroyed something that belonged to Bruce. He didn't here Bladeson say, "I hope nobody was inside that thing." All that Nightwing saw, felt, and heard, was blackness.

About an hour later, he slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the helicopter from before, but it was going much slower. In fact, it soon slowed to a complete stop. He tried to move, but his arms and legs were tied with some sort of rope. He felt wet for some reason, only to realize that he was laying in a puddle of his own vomit.

Bladeson soon exited the cockpit, and looked at Nightwing.

"Ah, your awake. And just in time for the show." he said. Something felt strange about the way Bladeson was looking at him.

That's when Nightwing realized he wasn't wearing his mask!

He quickly started to panic, until Bladeson spoke again.

"You can relax, I don't recognize you at all. For now, the secret of your identity remains."

This gave Nightwing some comfort, and he turned his attention to the ropes that bound him.

He tapped a hidden button on his left gauntlet, which caused a small blade to pop out. It was only about an inch long, making it improper as a weapon. It was however, sharp enough to cut through almost anything, making it an ideal tool for an escape artist in a hurry. He cut slowly so that Bladeson wouldn't notice, starting with his legs.

Bladeson didn't notice at all, as he walked to the other side of the chopper. He then suprised Nightwing by opening the door!

Was he going to jump? Or worse, was he going to throw Nightwing out?

The hero began to cut the rope faster!

However, he soon learned that it was neither, when Bladeson pulled a small object out of his coat.

"W-what isss th-that?" Nightwing said, realizing that he was still a bit to groggy to speak.

"This, is going to make the world a better place." Bladeson said.

He then pushed a button on the object, that caused it to blink red.

Nightwing now knew what it was...

It was a bomb!

A moment later, he managed to cut all the way through the rope that bound his legs. But instead of Cutting off the ropes on his arms, he jumped to his feet, and without considering his actions, ran up to bladeson and rammed his body into him!

He knocked the bomb right out of Bladeson's hand, but unfortunately, he also knocked it right out of the helicopter!

Worse, he had knocked Bladeson and himself out too!


	11. Falling

Chapter 12. Falling

When Dick was young, Batman had trained him very thoroughly before he allowed him become Robin. Some of these lessons included hand-to-hand combat, escapology, bomb disposal, skydiving, and most importantly, keeping calm under pressure. Now, as Nightwing, Dick realized that there was one thing Batman hadn't thought to train him in...

Doing all five with a concussion!

He considered firing a grapple line into the chopper like he'd done before, but he soon realized that even if he could figure out how to do that with his arms tied behind his back, the bomb would still destroy whoever it was that Bladeson was targeting now. Plus, tempting as the offer was, letting Bladeson fall thousands of feet to his death wasn't something that Nightwing wanted on his conscience.

His first move was to maneuver his body away from Bladeson, who was still a bit shocked by the situation. He then attempted to use the tiny blade sticking out of his wrist to cut through the ropes that bound his arms together. It was difficult, due to the fact that he had to bend his arms and legs at a slightly painful angle in order to make the tool touch the bondage.

He quickly noticed that something else was on his back, and realized what a huge stroke of luck it was! He was still wearing his parachute! Bladeson, for whatever reason, had been too lazy to take it off of him! This gave him some optimism as he tried to cut free of the ropes, which he did after about a minute.

He was just in time too, because it was just then that Bladeson regained his senses, and threw a knife at him!

Nightwing swung his body backwards just in time to dodge it! It flew right past him, but was enough to return his attention to Bladeson. The killer grabbed two more knives to throw, but the motion brought him closer to his target, meaning that Nightwing was able to kick the weapons out of Bladeson's hands with ease!

Bladeson attempted to kick Nightwing back, but that move was blocked by Nightwing's shin! They had now drifted close enough for Bladeson to try to punch Nightwing in the face with his right fist, but that too was blocked! He immediately followed it up with a punch from the left, but received another block! He tried another kick, but it was blocked once again! However, that kick had been a mere distraction, so that Nightwing wouldn't see the following punch coming! He didn't, and the sudden strike to the chin sent him flying several feet from Bladeson!

He was about to try to maneuver his way back to his opponent, when Nightwing spotted two things. One, was that he had been knocked right next to the bomb! Two, was that he only had about a minute left before he would splatter on the pavement below him! At least he assumed that it was pavement. His vision was blurring again, so he honestly couldn't tell.

He turned his attention to the bomb. He reached out to grab it, only to realize that it was actually far heavier than it looked. In order to save time, he used the same blade that he had used in his escape to carefully cut open the back panel of the tiny explosive, making sure not to cut any deeper than necessary.

He was glad to have made that precaution, because when the panel popped off, he saw that the bomb was packed with enough RDX and TNT to level a city block!

He looked very carefully, and saw that it had an impact sensitive detonator. That was good, because it meant that the bomb wasn't going to go off right that moment, but at the same time bad, because it meant he needed to be extra sensitive in his movements. He carefully made four small incisions on the detonater, giving him a clear view of the wires inside. He then took a deep breath, and cut one of the wires!

He was then able to let out a sigh of relief, because the red light on the bomb stopped blinking! With a small smile, he reached for the cord on his parachute... only to be grabbed on the shoulder by Bladeson!

He ripped the chute off of Nightwing's back, kicked the hero away, and pulled the cord! But Nightwing managed to regain his senses, and fired a grapple line into the back of Bladeson's parachute pack!

He was about to reel himself in, when he suddenly realized that he heard the sound of water! He looked down, and realized that they were in the middle of Gotham Bay, directly above Blackgate Penitentiary!


	12. Final Duel

Chapter 13. Final Duel

As the two of them slowly floated down to the roof of Blackgate Penitentiary, Nightwing swung on the grapple line that attached him to Bladeson's Parachute pack. After he had gotten some momentum, he detached the line from his gauntlet, and sailed toward the roof of the prison!

He managed to land in a roll, directly on the edge of the building!

He quickly looked up to see Bladeson landing a few moments after.

"What is this?" Why are you trying to destroy Blackgate?" Nightwing shouted to him.

"You idiot! Do you know what kind of scum lives in this place? Victor Zsasz! Julian Day! Tony Zuco! Cold blooded murderers!" Bladeson said as he took off the parachute, his emotionless tone now replaced with one full of rage!

"You want to kill other serial killers? What, you want to thin out the competition?" Nightwing said, masking his emotions on the third murderer that Bladeson mentioned.

"I've already told you! I'm not a murderer! I only kill the real murderers!" He screamed back.

This guy's delusional, Nightwing thought.

"And what about the guards, do they deserve to die?" he asked.

"Any one of them could have done this any time they wanted, and didn't! That makes them accomplices!" Bladeson shouted.

Forget delusions, he was completely insane!

"Fine! But you don't honestly think that the prisoners are all guilty! At least one of them must be wrongfully convi-"

Bladeson suddenly pulled out one of his many Knives, and jumped out to kill Nightwing! Dick managed to step out of Bladeson's way, and punched the enraged killer in the gut as he went by, but he didn't even feel it!

He turned and attempted to slice off Nightwing's head, but the hero ducked at the last second, losing three or four hairs in the process. Bladeson then tried to slash Nightwing in half, but Dick performed a quick back-flip, kicking the knife out of Bladeson's hand while upside down!

Bladeson reached for another weapon, only to realize with anger that his coat pocket was completely empty! He looked at the knife that had been knocked several feet away, and ran for it!

Nightwing tried to run to it too, but wasn't close enough! As he reached out to grab it, Bladeson picked up the knife and sliced through Nightwing's wrist so hard that the puny weapon shattered into dozens of pieces!

Nightwing gasped in shock, clutching his arm tightly, but didn't feel any pain! He looked at his wrist, and saw that his gauntlet had protected his wrist, but had been badly damaged.

He suddenly saw a faint glimmer out of the corner of his eye. He turned quickly to see that Bladeson had picked up a shard from the shattered knife, and was about to throw it! Nightwing tried jump out of the way, but the shard embedded itself in his shoulder!

As he clutched his shoulder, he saw Bladeson running toward him, and tried to kick his attacker in the face, but the killer blocked it with ease! He then punched at Nightwing, but the hero managed to catch Bladeson's fist with one hand, and gave his opponent another punch while he was distracted! But Bladeson saw this coming, and grabbed the hero's wrist before the punch hit him, and forcefully slammed his head into Nightwing's!

Dick was beginning to wish that he had just let that guy buy his steroids a few days earlier.

As he stood there in pain, he saw that bladeson was running at him with another shard from the knife! Not knowing what else to do, Nightwing performed the simplest attack he could think of. With what little power he had left, he punched Bladeson in the chest!

That's when it happened!

Nightwing's punch was just hard enough, that he accidentally fired the taser from his broken gauntlet into Bladeson's chest!

Bladeson instantly dropped the shard of his kife that he had been holding. His expression changed from one of pure rage, to one of pure horror! He seemed to be in more pain than he should have been, but Nightwing didn't care. He was so relieved to have gotten Bladeson to stop hitting him, that he didn't notice that it had been shocking the killer for a bit too long.

However, after nearly thirty seconds had gone by, he realized that something had gone wrong! He tried desprately to turn it off, but it wasn't working! Bladeson suddenly started to scream in pain, as his chest began to glow!

Nightwing had never heard of anything like that before, and just stared at Bladeson, totally confused as to what was happening to him! He got his answer a moment later, when the S.T.A.R. labs heart implant that had brought him back from the dead overheated, and his chest suddenly exploded!

Nightwing was suddenly covered by Bladeson's blood, but he didn't care. He just stared at the flames shooting out of the killer's chest, knowing that Bladeson couldn't have survived.

He was unsure of how to feel. On the one hand, he had just ended a series of grizzly murders, and saved the lives of the countless inmates of Blackgate prison. On the other, he had just killed a man.

After about a minute, he felt a strong hand on his good shoulder.

"Come on Dick. It's time to go." came the Batman's voice.

He gave a quick glance to his mentor, and then looked back at the flaming corpse.

He saw something small sticking out of a part of Bladeson's coat that hadn't yet been burnt. He walked up to the body, reached into the pocket, and pulled out his mask. He looked at for a moment, and then walked back to Batman.

He took one final glance at the corpse, trying to figure out what Bladeson's final thoughts were, before finally leaving with his old friend.

he had no idea of the pain, both physical and psychological, that Bladeson felt as he died the second time, knowing that he had killed all of the witness to his first death. Because of him, nobody would ever know the truth about how he had been killed.


	13. The Past

Chapter 14. The Past

As Jim Bladeson walked home from work, he felt a slight sadness. His car had broken down the day before, meaning that he had needed for a coworker to give him a ride. But at the end of the day, nobody wanted to give him a ride home.

He didn't blame them.

He never had.

For as long as Bladeson could remember, people had been afraid of him. He had always been tall, with long dark hair. Around middle school, he became so intimidating looking that the other kids began to avoid him. He didn't notice it at first, but by high school he had realized that some of his classmates were avoiding him like the plague! He felt a bit depressed about it at first, but soon grew to accept it.

It was then that he started playing up the menacing look. He started wearing darker clothes, and eventually got a tattoo of a rose on his neck. He liked the way he looked, and even got some amusement out of the way that strangers reacted around him, although it still hurt him deep in his heart.

Little did he realize that his appearance would be the first step in his own demise.

He knew that here were only two ways he could get home. There was the straight path, and the one that had him taking a detour. Because he was in a hurry, he decided that the straight way would be the best, as it would only take about fifteen minutes, compared to the half hour he would need to be walking the other way. He never stopped to think about how much crime there was on the street before him.

He was only walking for a few minutes before he learned it the hard way. As he came to a long, dark, incredibly cliché back alley, Bladeson heard a woman screaming from within! He instinctively ran into the alley, searching for the young woman who was in danger. He found her soon enough.

She was on the ally floor, bruised and bleeding. It was obvious why, for her boyfriend was standing above her, drunk and screaming profanities at her. Bladeson didn't know it at the time, but their names were Dana Perez, and Terrance Philland. Perez tried to get up, but Philland shoved her back down. He kneeled down so he could punch her in the face, but Bladeson ran out and grabbed the man's arm.

"Hey! Leave the lady alone!" He said.

Philland pulled his arm out of this stranger's grip. "Don't tell me what to do, ck face!" he said, slurring his words considerably. He tried to punch Bladeson, but missed. This gave Bladeson an excuse to punch Philland, knocking him flat on his back!

Bladeson then turned to Perez and asked "Are you okay?"

Before she could answer,the two of them heard sirens. In seconds a NYPD squad car pulled into the dark alley. Out of the car, jumped officer Juan M. Broadway, who had been a block away when he heard a report of a man beating a woman. He instantly pulled his gun on Bladeson.

"Freeze!" He Screamed.

Bladeson took a cautious step forward.

"Wait, you don't understa-"

It was at that instant, that Broadway fired a bullet straight through Bladeson's chest!

The same instant, that Bladeson's world went black.

If He had stayed awake, he would have seen Perez explaining to Broadway what a horrible mistake he had made. He would have seen Philland offering not to tell anyone, in return for not being arrested. He would have seen Broadway regretfully agreeing.

Instead, Bladeson slowly woke up in a strange glass tube. He was wearing a black jumpsuit, that he might have thought looked good in other circumstances. He banged on the glass, and was surprised to see that it actually broke! He was even more surprised when he saw his arm! He had been in decent shape before being shot, but his arms were now nothing but muscle!

That's when the memory of that night came back to him. His mind went over every single detail of that night, trying to figure out how he ended up in this tube, but nothing came to him. He decided to climb out of the tube and look around.

He was in a large room, full of machines that looked like pacemakers, each with _S.T.A.R. labs_ written on them. He assumed it was night, because all of the lights were off. He thought that he might be getting treated for his bullet wounds at a S.T.A.R. labs medical facility, until he saw a very large safe. Somebody had left it open a crack, so he was able to look inside. When he did, he was surprised to see that it was full of weapons!

There were dozens of knives, each one saying 6-17 CB, a pile of guns, including an actual rocket launcher, some small boxes that looked like bombs, and a strange looking baton. The moment he spotted it, he instinctively grabbed it, pushed a hidden button, and a short blade popped out of one end! He was so surprised that he dropped the weapon and jumped back!

How had he known that button was there?

He turned around to see a computer that had been left on. Somebody had been typing an e-mail that they had forgotten to send.

_From the office of Dr. Grant Tomasi_

_Progress report on Subject A_

_Due to a spike in neural activity shortly after the removal and transfer from S.T.A.R. labs, Subject is expected to awaken in roughly 32 hours. Muscle implants have proven highly successful, however the same cannot be said of the memory implants. Despite the combat skills being perfectly downloaded into subject's brain, all attempts to alter Subject's personality have merely resulted in a merging between the original aspects of his personality with the ones we wished to give him, which may result in little more than a slight increases in factors such as aggression, and tactical decision making skill. For these reasons, we request the termination of Subject A, and that we be provided with a new subject. We are aware of the difficulty that you have gone through in order to provide Subject A, but be aware that he shall be useless as an assassin, and is best suited for a brain autopsy, so that we may learn from our previous mistakes._

When Bladeson finished reading the e-mail, he was confused. It had mentioned something about removing someone from S.T.A.R. labs, meaning that this place was probably not one of their facilities. He decided to check the computer's documents, in case there was something about him in one of them. The first one two catch his attention was called S.T.A.R. labs implant tech. He clicked on it. He had been right about the small devices, they were pacemakers. But it said that they were designed for use on patients that were already dead!

Something in Bladeson's brain clicked! He slowly took off the shirt of his jumpsuit, and looked at his chest. There was a scar there, about a foot wide. Next to it, was a tattoo. All that it said, was _**Subject A**_.

Bladeson just stared at the two new additions to his body, not wanting to believe that they existed. After several moments, he went back to the computer, and selected another document. After going through each of the documents one by one, he managed to piece together what he was doing in this place.

Apparently, a large time gang leader named Franklin Sheller had gotten together a group of scientist to create a perfect assassin for him. They had together some of the worlds greatest athletes, who they performed brain surgery on, in order to brainwash them into blind loyalty toward Sheller. Unfortunately for Sheller, the few survivors of the operation were so angry that they threatened to call the police, which of course forced him to kill them. However, when the scientists heard a rumor that S.T.A.R. labs New York was working on a way to reanimate the dead, they theorized that they could alter the brain of a dead body far more successfully, and Sheller bought stock in the company. He soon learned that the rumors about the heart implants were true, but only one of the cadavers was showing any signs of progress. Sheller decided to have his men break in to the company, and steal the body that they called Subject A.

Bladeson slowly became angrier as he read each individual document. These people were using him like some kind of killing machine!

It was at that moment that one of the scientists entered the room.

"Hey! You! How did you get in here!?" he yelled.

Bladeson turned to face him, his eyes full of hatred!

"Y-you… Oh my god! You're not supposed to be awake ye-"

Bladeson ran up to the scientist and grabbed his throat! He choked the man with all of the rage he had! All of the anger he had been feeling about being treated like a weapon by these bastards, about being thought of as less than human, and most of all, being killed for saving the life of a complete stranger, all flowed through his fists! He didn't just strangle the scientist, he snapped his spine!

Over a minute after the man had actually died, Bladeson finally let go of the body. He stood back, and stared at the corpse. He was horrified with himself for what he had just done. He would never have done that before... Before his mind had been tampered with. Was this all that he was capable of now? The life of a mindless murderer?

He gave it some deep thought, before finally making a decision.

He picked up his shirt, put it back on, and walked back to the weapons safe. He needed a way to carry the weapons away, but couldn't think of how. He looked at the dead scientist again. He was about Bladeson's size, and wearing a long black coat. Bladeson quickly took the coat off, and tried it on. He was glad to learn that it fit perfectly.

He went back to the safe and filled the pockets of the coat with as many knives as he could. He also put a few of the bombs in there, along with a few strange dart guns that looked like pens. He couldn't figure out a way to fit the spear weapon in any of the pockets, so he used it to cut a small incision in the coat, turning the inside of the coat into a bigger pocket that it just barely fit into. He decided to leave the guns, except for the rocket launcher, which he thought might come in handy.

As he left the room, still with no idea what state, or even what country he was in, only one thing was going through his mind.

These people wanted to make him into a killer?

Okay.

He would hunt down and kill every single selfish, evil person like them in the world!

Starting with Franklin Sheller!


End file.
